[OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 6, No. 3 (1999) 242-244]

Near-Field Optical Microscope with Tapping Illumination and Synchronous Detection*

Masashi KIGUCHI and Midori KATO

Advanced Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd., Hatoyama, Saitama, 350-0395 Japan

(Received December 7, 1998; Accepted January 21, 1999)

We use the tapping illumination and synchronous detection in a scanning near-field optical microscopy to obtain a near-field optical signal that is separated from the far-field signal. The illumination light was irradiated from the bent fiber tip vibrating normal to the sample surface. The transmitted light synchronized with the tapping vibration was observed. The obtained image of an organic film shows that this technique is effective for the weak contrast samples.

Key words : near-field optics, scanning microscopy, lock-in detection, phthalocyanine

kiguchi@harl.hitachi.co.jp

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